NAND flash memory, as well as other types of non-volatile memories (“NVMs”), are commonly used for mass storage. For example, consumer electronics such as portable media players often include flash memory to store music, videos, and other media.
NVMs may suffer from various types of defects over time. Due to the physical architecture of some devices, a substantial portion of NVM errors can be caused by word line shorts. For devices with limited storage space in the NVM, data recovery from word line shorts can be challenging because there is less space available for storing error correcting data.